The Nightmare Chronicles
by NerdGirl713
Summary: Everyone knows the story of Luna's banishment, but what you weren't told was that there was another princess. This princess was left scarred and emotionally destroyed. Her resentment towards Celestia grew and she was the cause of both Luna's banishment and her own. She however gets the ability to invade Equestria once more. Will the Mane Six rise to the challenge? I own nothing!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own absolutely NOTHING! Except for the Nightmares, their queen (Princess Nightingale/The Nightmare Queen), and Blade.

 **Chapter 1: Dabbling in Dark Magic**

Everything you knew about Luna's imprisonment on the moon was a lie. Well, not everything. She did, after all, rebel against her sister, Princess I'm the perfect dictator, look-at-me-and-my-beautiful-sun. In case you didn't figure out who that is, it's Princess Celestia. They, meaning Celestia, didn't tell you everything about Luna's banishment to the moon. There was a third princess. This is her story. I'll just come out and say it, I am Princess Nightingale, Queen of Nightmares, and I am partially responsible for Luna's banishment. I suppose that's enough background for now, so I shall begin telling the story.

Once upon a time, there were three princesses. One was not a princess for a very long time. She was originally an ordinary pony with four friends. Before the mane six that everyone in Equestria came to love and adore, there were five friends that were never cruel to each other. Sure, they had their fights, but so do many friends. The five of them had the elements of harmony. One of the friends had to carry not one, but two elements of harmony. This would cause problems later. At some point, Discord attempted to take over Equestria. These friends were assigned by Celestia to stop Discord from taking over.

Discord was clever, but surely you knew that. He had been watching these ponies for weeks to discover what would tear them apart. He decided to lead them to the hedge maze. Does that sound familiar? Oh, how history does repeat itself. Anyway, while the friends were wandering the maze, Discord planted a seed of doubt in their heads.

Seeds of doubt, while sounding like nothing more than a figure of speech, are actually a spell, and a very dark one at that. What they do is just that, they make you doubt. You notice nothing at first, but you start doubting your relationships and, as a result, acting colder, and sometimes meaner, towards those you care about.

The aforementioned friends defeated Discord, but he never truly left their minds. They bore the emotional scars of what happened in the maze, and, little by little, started believing more in the seed of doubt's delusions rather than reality. They would fight more often than not, and were jealous of their friend, the new Princess Nightingale. She was the friend who bore the element of magic and the element of kindness. For her performance in magic, she was titled Princess of Equestria.

Because of her royal duties, she grew further from her friends. In a desperate attempt to save their friendship, she would organize gatherings for her and her friends. When that didn't work, she tried to use dark magic to make her friends feel happy. Her attempts proved to be only temporary. Eventually, she and her friends had an enormous fight and started tearing each other apart emotionally, and that was the end of their friendship. Princess Nightingale was devastated. The seed of doubt planted inside her began to turn her coat into a dark grey.

Princess Luna was concerned about Princess Nightingale. She noticed that Nightingale would barely speak and was quite literally turning darker shades of grey. Luna tried to comfort her, but in the process, was corrupted by Nightingale's delusions (and the fact that Nightingale had at some point planted a seed of doubt into her head). Eventually, they were plotting against The Empress of Light *cough* I mean, Princess Celestia.


	2. Chapter 2: Dabbling in Dark Magic

**Hey! Sorry it took so long, things have been really crazy lately. Here is the second chapter. -teenghost13**

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It had been years since the unfortunate falling-out with Princess Nightingale and her friends. Her coat, which had once been a creamy color, had turned almost completely black, and her wings had become bat-like. You could barely notice that any change had come over Luna, other than her ranting about how Celestia only got all the attention because ponies tended to be diurnal. Meanwhile, Princess Nightingale had recently found a spell that would make her appear to have her original looks (her mane and tail coloring had still remained during the transformation).

After she had successfully made herself look normal, a guard came in.

"Princess Celestia sent for you." he said.

"I will be right there." Princess Nightingale replied and motioned for him to leave the room. He left the room, and she stared into her mirror. _What have I become?_ The question lingered for a moment, but then Luna came in.

"We have been summoned by Celestia, it is supposedly urgent." she said, "How much longer must we wait to show all of Equestria that my sister isn't all they think she is?"

"Be patient. We still have to figure out how to sway everypony's opinion towards her." Nightingale said evenly. Truth be told, she was still attempting to master the seed of doubt spell. It was a miracle she cast a working one on Luna.

"Either way, we must go, my sister is not always as patient as she seems." They left Nightingale's room and hurried for the throne room.

"What took you so long?!" Celestia demanded. "You are supposed to come immediately when I call for you."

"My apologies, sister."

"What did you summon us for?" Nightingale asked.

Celestia's expression turned grim, almost dreading what she had to say. "Our forces from the north have returned news to us. They have driven Sombra back to the capital of the Crystal Empire. However, the soldiers fear going any further."

"I can see why," Luna agreed. "Sombra is a stallion of great power, not even our strongest soldiers could even stand a chance."

"So, what is to be done?" Nightingale inquired.

"It appears, that the only way we can win this war, is to go fight Sombra ourselves." Celestia reasoned.

"It's settled then, we'll leave immediately." Luna replied.

"However, if we do this, we cannot use the elements."

"What! Why not!?" Nightingale asked. "The elements would lead to his downfall!"

"If we bring the elements with us, we could lose one to Sombra's dark magic, which would lead to catastrophe. We can't risk that. It's for their own good. Do you understand?"

Both Luna and Nightingale nodded. "Good, we must leave immediately."

The group couldn't take the carriages for multiple reasons. First, they were to conspicuous, and Sombra's spies would notice them leagues before their arrival in the Empire. Also, Pegasi guards were few and far between in this time of war. No, they would have to fly there. The eldest princess led the other two Alicorns towards the Empire.

The stars sparkled in the night above the plush clouds, almost feeling as if they were swimming in night itself. Nightingale and Luna had both suggested travel in the cover of nightfall, and the other princess agreed. Luna enjoyed the night around her, giving her a smile. With the seed of doubt inside her, those moments were few and far between, but this was one of those moments.

' _Why can't all the other ponies appreciate my night. If they would take a moment to realize how beautiful it is, then maybe they would realize that it is just as good as sister's day.'_

Suddenly, the air became more chilled. The clouds thickened, turning dark and stormy. But the princesses kept flying straight into the unrest.

"We've just entered into Sombra's territory." Celestia uttered. "We must tread carefully."

There was very little light, and Nightingale struggled to see through the thick clouds around her. The occasional lightning strike would allow her to see that she was still going in the right direction, but that was it. The darkness seemed, alive, enveloping the three rulers. Eventually, Celestia illuminated her horn so that she and Nightingale would be able to see. But the other was disconcerted by it.

"Dim the light sister," Luna urged. "Sombra will know that we're here."

"We're almost there anyway." Celestia argued. "We have no choice, we can't see here like you."

As they progressed, the cold increased as the dark mists did. Finally, they flew downwards, toward the white blanket of snow. Snow seemed to pound on them as they fell, nearly making it impossible to open their eyes. When they landed, they faced a large, crystal structure. There were crystals in dark shades of black, gray, and the occasional saturated purple. The three princesses faced on the city, the eldest two remaining undaunted.

"The Crystal Empire," Luna stated. "I sense evil from the very essence of it."

"Sombra must be stopped." Celestia agreed. "If we can defeat Sombra and return the Crystal heart, then we should be able to restore the Empire to it's full glory once more."

Nightingale stared on at the kingdom. She was disconcerted at best. Would they be able to take on Sombra?

"Now, we must go," Celestia continued. "If we confront Sombra now, he will be unsuspecting. We must gain every advantage we can."

The three princesses took flight again, rushing towards the fortress. They weaved through the crystal houses, aiming straight for the castle. Celestia charged a beam at the window, shattering an opening for the three to enter.

They landed in the dark throne room, the three scanned the room with their eyes, trying to find any sign of the evil king. The throne was empty, and there was no sign of movement. Suddenly, a gust of wind was heard on the other side of the dark room, moving past them.

"What was that?" Nightingale asked nervously. The small light from the windows were obstructed somehow, concerning the three princesses. A dark shadow passed through underneath them. It moved towards the throne, and a little spiral appeared there. A pair of ghostly green eyes appeared, and the three princesses prepared for battle.

"I don't recall inviting peasants to the throne of the king." Sombra's voice echoed.

"It's over, Sombra!" Celestia bellowed. "Your reign of tyranny ends here."

"I beg to differ," Sombra replied. "I have no intention of giving up my throne. In fact, I'm more interested in taking yours."

"Not going to happen!" Nightingale shouted. "You're going to release the crystal ponies, and come away quietly."

Sombra turned to the youngest of the Alicorns. "I like you, you have so much hatred. I can feel your potential."

"Stop it," Luna ordered. "This must be ended."

"Yes," Sombra muttered. "It must be ended. You and your precious hope must be destroyed." Sombra slammed his hooves on the crystal floor. Dark crystals appeared all around him, glistening. The floor where the princesses were standing began to change, the three jumped out of the way, just as crystal spikes shot up. They glanced at the throne again, only to find nothing there.

Laughter echoed through the throne room, and the princesses reunited in the center of the room. Sharp, crystal shards began to grow on the walls and ceiling of the throne room.

"If you surrender, we promise to take you in nicely." Celestia commented.

"You are in no position to be making deals with me!" Sombra bellowed. Immediately, the crystals shot directly towards the princesses. Nightingale quickly conjured up a magical forcefield to protect them, but the crystals slammed into the forcefield, creating a dark cocoon of sorts. The crystals then exploded, breaking through the shield and separating the princesses again.

Nightingale was thrown into the dark part of the throne room. She tried to crawl back towards the other two, but felt a force stop her. She looked up to see a pair of hideous green eyes, and a cruel smile. Sombra charged up a beam to attack her, but Nightingale acted quickly, and illuminated her horn as well. She shot a beam of pure light at the only thing she could see, Sombra's eyes. The dark prince screamed, reeling upwards, and teleported towards the other two.

"Now, let's hit him!" Nightingale ordered. The three princesses shot beams of light towards Sombra, just as nightingale had done. Sombra then vanished, and the princesses stood there, panting slightly.

"See," Celestia commented. "I told you we could beat him."

Suddenly Sombra appeared again, standing directly in front of all the princesses. He growled at them, and the princesses jumped back. Sombra's blood-red horn illuminated with a dark aura. "You will all know fear!"

A wave of darkness engulfed the room. Princess Nightingale felt her illusion spell slip. She blinked a few times, and when her vision cleared, she saw that the Crystal Empire had vanished. The princesses rose to their hooves, and Celestia gasped upon seeing Nightingale's true form.

"What have you done? You know full well dabbling in the dark arts is forbidden!" Celestia scolded.

"It isn't what you think! Yes, I've been using dark magic, but I'm not on Sombra's side!" Nightingale defended.

"What makes you think I'll believe you, after you've already cast an illusion spell to hide your true form." Celestia argued, charging her horn with a banishment curse.

"What makes you think that you have any control over me?" she retorted nervously. "I am an Alicorn just like you, almighty empress of light!" Nightingale spat, immediately regretting her choice of words.

Celestia's eyes widened. She knew that Nightingale was too far gone. She needed to go. "Princess Nightingale, I banish you, that you may never hurt another soul, until you have learned how to rule properly and peacefully!"

She then charged her beam, firing it at Nightingale. Nightingale didn't bother fighting back, she knew that she couldn't fight Celestia. But that didn't mean that she wouldn't go down without uttering her own curse. "I now curse Celestia, that you will lose everything you hold dear, and I will return to take everything from you!" She felt herself being hurled through the aether, sent beyond time, and beyond any realm known to Ponykind.

She stopped only in Tartarus, and there she would remain for another thousand years or so. Playing cards with Tirek proved to be an enjoyable pastime, seeing as he couldn't eat her magic in Tartarus. However, she never forgot her curse, and she never forgot who to blame. And neither did Celestia, though she would prevent any and all ponies from knowing about it, by any means necessary.


End file.
